The Pentagram
by MarcelineFan
Summary: Gumball's eyes widened in bewilderment. He rubbed his eyes roughly before looking back into the mirror. The black pentagram was still sitting plain as day, right in the middle of his forehead. (I do not own cover image!) HIATUS UNTIL 7/13/14!


Chapter 1: The Beginning

_Soaring through the sky of a cloud city, laughing in delight._

_Crashing through the clouds to the ground, but landing safely in a beautiful forest._

_Walking through the forest and enjoying the scenery, then being thrown into the ocean by the animals._

_Desperately trying but failing to swim to the surface, and being able to breathe underwater._

_Exploring the mystical underwater world, then feeling a strong burning sensation._

_Being the size of a giant, surrounded by tall orange flames with a village of screaming people burning below._

_The pained and sorrowful faces of five familiar people, bodies scrawled on the ground...dead..._

_Darkness._

_A glowing red pentagram._

_An ominous voice._

_"You shall be the one to do unspeakable things to mankind; soon my child..."_

* * *

"Hey, Anais?" Darwin said next to her sister in the cafeteria. He looked in front of him with a concerned expression.

"Huh?" Anais took a bite of her chocolate pudding.

"Do you notice anything..._strange _about Gumball this week?"

The young bunny took notice of where her adopted brother's attention was directed. The feline in question sat a table away and looked tired. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but then he closed his eyelids and his face fell into his sphagetti.

"Besides the fact that he's been dozing off like that every day?" Anais replied with an eyebrow raised. "Nope."

"Well, this morning, when I woke up," the worried goldfish began. "He was already in the kitchen again, and he didn't look too good. But when I asked him if he was alright, he said he was fine. He's been doing this since Tuesday, and he doesn't seem fine to me."

"Darwin, there's no need to worry," Anais assured after taking a sip of milk. "I'm sure there's a simple explanation. Maybe he woke up too early or something."

"I don't know...he seems pretty distant lately."

"Well, if you want to know what's wrong with him, then why don't you ask him?"

"Okay...I will!"

After lunch, Darwin looked for Gumball in the hallway. He eventually found his brother/best friend asleep while standing up next to his locker.

"Gumball?" The goldfish poked the sleeping feline gently. "Hey, buddy, wake up." Gumball was still out cold.

Darwin tried a different approach and grabbed the boy's shoulders. "Wake up!" he shouted while shaking his brother/best friend. Gumball simply drooled. Darwin took a deep breath.

"Sorry, dude." Then, after drawing his fin back, he gave the feline boy a good slap on the cheek. Gumball's eyes shot open.

"OW!" He rubbed his cheek in pain. "What the heck, man!?"

"I'm sorry!" Darwin repeated with his fins held up in defense. "But it's your own fault!"

"What does _that_ mean?"

"Well, first you've been dozing off at school for the past four days, and just now you were standing there and _sleeping_!"

Gumball crossed his arms and turned the other cheek. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said defiantly.

Darwin facepalmed. "Look Gumball," he began. "You haven't really been yourself lately, and I'm just worried. If there's something you want to talk about-"

"Darwin, I'm perfectly fine," the stubborn feline explained and opened his locker to put his books in.

"But Gumball-" The concerned goldfish's attempt at reasoning was interrupted by a furry hand being pushed in his face.

"Ah! Not. Another. Word." Gumball slammed his locker door closed and marched off to his next class. Darwin simply sighed and followed suit.

* * *

"Okay, children. Now that class has started, it's pop quiz time!"

The students groaned in unison, annoyed at Ms. Simian's announcement.

"Oh, stop complaining," the primate grumbled as she passed out the tests. "When I was in school, we had 5 pop quizzes a _day_."

Gumball seemed to be wide awake at the time, and frowned with the others when he received his quiz. To add insult to injury, the quiz was on musical instruments, which, besides the ukelele, wasn't exactly his strong point.

"You've got to be kidding me," he mumbled to himself and reluctantly picked up his pencil. After writing his name, the feline at least tried to answer to answer some questions.

_This test is bogus, _Gumball thought._ How am I supposed to know what to do when a note is wanted between the basic rhythm while playing a langeleik? And what the heck is an 'ei-gen-harp'? A throat disorder? _The confused feline boy looked to his right and saw that Bobert was already finished.

"Hm...maybe just looking at _one_ answer wouldn't hurt..." Just as he was about to stretch his neck over to the genius robot, Ms. Simian piped up.

"Oh, and students," she began. "This quiz is a part of your music grade, and if you cheat on so much as _one_ question, I'll know from teacher's intuition, and you will get an automatic F and be sentenced to three weekends of detention." The old baboon waved her hand dismissively. "Carry on."

Gumball groaned. "Darn it!" He put a paw to his chin in thought. "What do I do now?" he mumbled. Then he snapped his fingers.

"Oh, I know!" he silently exclaimed. "I could just think about each question thoroughly and give my best answer!" The feline paused. "No, not even something _that _crazy would work..." He hesitated with a insightful look on his face. "...would it?" The feline paused once more and shrugged.

"Eh, it's worth a try," he stated and put his fingers on the side of his head as he closed his eyes in deep concentration. "Okay, brain. You can't give up on me today. _Think_...!"

Suddenly, the gears in Gumball's brain began to turn, as if they were being pushed by an otherworldly force. The feline opened hius eyes and grinned. He then picked up his pencil and wrote furiously. Eventually, the time for the pop quiz was up, and Ms. Simian came around to pick up the papers.

"I hope you all paid attention during music history," she chuckled. Gumball bit his lip nervously.

_Oh, man. Those answers came out of nowhere, and I don't even know if they're right... _He paused with a confused expression. _Wait, why should I care? At least I gave her _something.

Ms. Simian sat back at her desk, straightening the papers in her hands. "Now, turn to page 60 in your textbooks and take turns reading until I finish grading these quizzes," she instructed. The class grumbled to themselves, but knowing that any attempt at arguing with the strict teacher was futile, they simply obeyed. Gumball's turn was nearly skipped, as the feline boy was distracted by the thoughts about the quiz...that didn't seem to be his own.

30 minutes later, as the kids read on to page 63, the school bell rung. The students cheered and immediately left their seats in a large crowd, but Ms. Simian somehow managed to give each of them their papers. When the primate gave Gumball his paper, however, she seemed a bit hesitant.

"Are you _sure _you didn't cheat, Watterson?" she asked curiously. Gumball raised an eyebrow.

"Uh...yeah..." he replied awkwardly.

"Hm...well, okay. Run along now. See you next week."

"Okay..." Gumball hesitantly walked out the door, and he looked at his quiz. To his surprise, a big red 'A+' was written at the top, along with a small note: 'So you're actually trying now?'

The feline boy smiled, but then his grin turned into a confused smirk. He remembered the strange force that seemed to push the answers into his mind. The boy was almost certain that the solutions to the questions were made up.

So how did he get a perfect 'A+' for a quiz in his worst subject?

"Come on, Gumball!"

The feline in question snapped out of his thoughts and looked ahead. His brother and sister stood waiting for him at the bus entrance, and it was Darwin that had called Gumball.

"Pick up the pace! You're moving like a turtle!" Gumball quickly sprinted towards the bus and managed to pull himself on right before the doors closed.

"That was a close one, buddy," Darwin commented as his brother/friend sat next to him. "Good thing you made it on time."

"Yeah, I don't want to be stuck at school longer than I have to," Gumball joked, and they shared a laugh. Afterwards, Darwin began a conversation with a girl in the seat next to them, and Gumball stared out the window in deep thought.

_Things have been really weird lately. Well, weirder than usual. First, that dream that seems to haunt me__...now I just got a perfect grade on a pop quiz that I didn't even study for. Something's not right here..._

Gumball shrugged. _I guess I'll think about all that later. It's probably nothing, anyway. _Then, the feline slowly drifted off to sleep, once again being met with the haunting images of the dream world.


End file.
